(Credit:
G-NUIS)
This golf cart-sized, cheetah-spotted buggy could be bad news for those guys who make a living driving up and down the fence lines of Podunk facilities around the country while drinking bad coffee.
The Guardium UGV (unmanned ground system) employs state-of-the-art technologies and any number of payloads to guard places like airports, energy plants and military bases-24/7, rain or shine and without the need for 7-11 pit stops.
A joint venture between G-NUIS Unmanned Ground Systems, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Elbit Systems Ltd., the Guardium is an all terrain vehicle that takes care of itself.
It uses autonomous decision-making and persistent navigation to overcome poor GPS conditions, deal with obstacles and other variables as well as to plan and replan routes in real time.
Weather impervious panoramic artificial imaging, video compression, data fusion and wireless commo make this one intrusive little SOB.
While this UGV was designed for routine missions, such as programmed patrols along a perimeter and other security routines, it can also react to "unscheduled events." It can also be used for combat support.
In event of a perimeter breach, say along the Rio Grande, one version of this unit could be immediately dispatched "to isolate, contain and control intruders" until backup arrives, according to the company. Fence? We don't need no stinkin' fence.
(Credit:
Thales UK)
Thales UK released photos of the new Watchkeeper UAV maiden flight in Northern Israel after permission to publish the pictures had been blocked for three weeks because of political considerations, according to industry press reports.
The Watchkeeper, a "fully autonomous" (including automatic takeoff and landing) unmanned aerial vehicle, is expected to assume reconnaissance and target acquisition duties for the British military by 2010, according to Thales.
The robo-platform comes equipped with day/night electro-optic sensors, laser-target designators, and advanced synthetic aperture radar. Information and images collected are transmitted to a network of mobile ground control stations and remote viewing terminals where operators can control missions. It's unarmed but does include a "de-icing capabilit."
Permission to publish the pictures had been blocked by the U.K. Defence Equipment & Support organization since the April 16 maiden flight, according to Flightglobal.com, "due to sensitivities linked to local elections held across the U.K. on 1 May."
The 450-kilogram Watchkeeper, based on the Elbit Hermes 450, will be built jointly by the Israeli company Elbit Systems and the French-owned Thales UK. Starting price was 15 million pounds (more than $29 million) but has reportedly risen to 17 million pounds a pop (more than $33 million), and despite 2,100 lucrative jobs, a good portion of that money will be flying away offshore. There's one reason to be sensitive.
Whether your pilgrimage tour makes it to Bethlehem or ends up as Mediterranean fish bait may all depend on a credit-card-size keypad designed to prevent hijacked airliners from entering Israeli airspace.
Starting next year, Israel will require all airlines flying into its airports to use a new Security Code System device designed to prevent a 9/11-style attack by identifying commandeered planes before they enter the country's airspace, Reuters reported last week.
Elbit Systems, the company that developed the device, declined to go into technological and procedural detail. But judging by the keypad, it's possible that the pilot would be required to enter a numerical code. There is also something that looks like a microphone suggesting voice recognition, according to a Reuters reporter allowed in for a peek at Israel's Transport Ministry.
Whatever the test, pilots who flunk it or send a secret Mayday will be ordered to turn back. If they ignore the warning, they and everyone on board become fair game, which means-worst-case scenario-you and aunt Edna get splashed.
You can relax on at least one count. "You can't bluff this system," the Transportation Ministry's security chief told Reuters. "It provides a higher level of confidence that the aircraft is being controlled by the right people, which are a huge asset in terms of avoiding unnecessary security alerts."
He added the system knows the difference between a "classic hostage-taking hijacking and a 9/11-style hijacking."
So there's still a chance you'll deplane in one piece.
- prev
- 1
- next
